Provost and Chief Academic Officer

Search for the Provost and Chief Academic Officer

Loyola University Chicago

Chicago, Illinois

Loyola University Chicago (Loyola) seeks an accomplished, innovative, and equity-minded leader to serve as the Provost and Chief Academic Officer (Provost). Motivated by its Jesuit commitment to social justice and transformative education, Loyola has earned recognition on the national higher education landscape for its robust mission-centered undergraduate experience, an array of quality graduate and professional programs, the university’s research initiatives and engagement with the Chicago community, and excellent health sciences programs that, in partnership with the Loyola University Health System and Trinity Health, is working to transform the expanding healthcare environment.

Loyola is one of 27 Jesuit universities and one of the largest Catholic universities in the United States. It currently enrolls over 17,000 students on its three campuses in the Chicago area: Lake Shore, Water Tower, and the Health Sciences Campus (HSC). In addition, Loyola has a presence with the John Felice Rome Center (JFRC) in Italy. In the last decade, Loyola has experienced tremendous growth in virtually every dimension, including undergraduate enrollment, student retention, healthcare innovation, physical footprint, and academic programs. Under the leadership of Dr. Jo Ann Rooney, who joined Loyola in 2016 as the university’s first lay president, Loyola finds itself at an exciting inflection point as it approaches its 150th anniversary next year. President Rooney has created a new leadership structure, redefining the Provost role to oversee the entire academic enterprise of the university and creating a new Senior Vice President for Strategy and Innovation position that will develop a new strategic plan and initiatives for growth across the university, particularly in the health sciences. This is part of an effort to support the university to drive research, teaching, and successful student outcomes and further achieve its Jesuit and Catholic mission that emphasizes the importance of knowledge, intellectual curiosity, global perspectives, and cura personalis, which translates to “care for the whole person. This is an exceptional opportunity to join the President’s leadership team, and through a reinvigorated commitment to shared governance, steward an academic enterprise that is committed to elevating its research profile and cross-disciplinary collaborations, while furthering its distinctive student experience focused on leadership cultivation and engagement with global issues. The Provost will play a critical role in further refining the new leadership structure and developing a new academic plan to shape the future trajectory of this highly successful, mission-driven institution renowned for its academic quality, social justice mission, and community engagement.

The Provost will capitalize on this moment and set aspirational strategic goals at what is already a very successful university. In order to do so, the Provost must embrace the Catholic, Jesuit traditions and values of the institution and its mission to expand knowledge in the service of humanity through learning, justice, and faith. The Provost will demonstrate a deep understanding of the current issues in higher education and have a demonstrated track record of successfully implementing change in response to economic, political, and social forces. The successful candidate will have extensive experience with balancing the business fundamentals of a complex university while prioritizing student success, academic excellence, staff productivity, and diversity and inclusion. Strategic planning experience is highly desirable, as is experience in a highly complex, geographically distributed higher education environment that includes a major health sciences division. Of greatest importance is a leadership style that emphasizes communication, accessibility, collaboration, and decisiveness that are critical to leading the academic enterprise during a time of growth, change, and aspiration.

A full list of the desired qualifications and characteristics and a complete description of the Provost opportunity has been prepared by the Search Advisory Committee with the assistance of Isaacson, Miller, a national executive search firm, and can be found at website for the search: www.imsearch.com/6944.  Screening of complete applications will begin immediately and continue until the completion of the search process. Please submit all inquiries, nominations, referrals, and CVs with cover letters electronically to the listed website.

Julie Filizetti, Sabrina Singh, and Camille Sheffield

Isaacson, Miller

1000 Sansome Street, Suite 300

San Francisco, CA  94111

Phone: 415.655.4900

Fax: 415.655.4905

Loyola University Chicago is an Equal Opportunity / Affirmative Action employer with a strong commitment to hiring for our mission and diversifying our faculty and staff. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion (except where religion is a bona fide occupational qualification for the job), national origin, sex, age, disability, marital status, sexual orientation, gender identity, protected veteran status or any other factor protected by law.